Lecturers suspend indefinite strike in Nigerian university, give reason

Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka (NAU) Chapter, have suspended the indefinite strike at the university.

NAU, a federal university in Anambra State, is popularly known as UNIZIK.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the ASUU-UNIZIK declared an indefinite strike at the university on Monday.

The lecturers had stressed that the “sole reason” for their industrial action at the university was the “non-payment of the complete salary of August 2026.”

They maintained that the industrial action would continue until the payment was fully paid by the university authorities.

Suspension of industrial action

The ASUU-UNIZIK Chapter announced the suspension of the indefinite strike in a Friday memo jointly signed by its Chairman, Innocent Nnubia, and the Secretary, Osita Nnajiofor.

“The Branch Executive is pleased to inform all comrades that the complete August 2026 salary has now been paid to all members.

“Consequently, and in line with the resolution, the Branch hereby directs the immediate suspension of the withdrawal of services with effect from today, Friday 11th September,” the memo reads in part.

The union leaders then asked all lecturers at the university to resume their duties at the institution.

“We commend all comrades for your resoluteness, unity, and discipline during this period.

“Our solidarity and collective action yielded positive results. Let us remain vigilant and continue to monitor developments,” the memo added.

University counters alleged unpaid salaries

Meanwhile, PREMIUM TIMES exclusively reported that the university management countered the lecturers’ claim that they were paid half salary in August.

The university spokesperson, Aloysius Attah, told this newspaper that the lecturers received half of their Earned Academic Allowance for August, not their salaries.

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Mr Attah also clarified that the university could not pay the full earned allowance to the lecturers because of funding constraints.

The spokesperson recalled that the federal government had reached an agreement with the ASUU national body on the payment of the earned allowance, but later asked universities to pay lecturers the allowances from their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), with a promise to reimburse them later.

He explained that the university recorded a shortfall in its IGR, resulting in the non-payment of the full allowance to the lecturers for August.